Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide

iPhone 3G Reviews: Hardware, Software and Apps

Here's our Gizmodo iPhone 3G Review, iPhone Firmware 2.0 Review and our still updating iPhone App Review Marathon (89 apps total).

By Brian Lam
65,404 views, 66 comments

Latest by : more »

closing time

Gateway Shutters Online Store, Exits Direct PC Sales Business Completely

Gateway will now no longer be selling its PCs through Gateway.com and has shut down all its direct PC sales to become a 100% retail channel PC company. The move is only somewhat surprising—its newish parent company Acer has always focused on offering its goods through resellers. But seeing how Gateway was one of the original success stories for the selling PCs directly to consumers model, the shuttering of its online store is a little like the death knell of an era. [Cnet]

3:30 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Elaine Chow
20 views, Comment

Pizza Scissors

Cut Coupons, Serve Pies, Lose Respect With Pizza Scissors

Does the act of cutting up a pizza vex you to no end? Do you find yourself with numerous nicks and cuts on your palms because you constantly use the wrong end of a pizza cutter to slice pies? Lucky for you, there's pizza scissors. The manufacterer claims the $20 shears-and-spatula design won't damage plates or trays like a pizza wheel or knife would, but we think if that's the main reason you purchase one of these, you probably have bigger issues on your plate than a few dinged pieces of china. [SkyMall via Random Good Stuff]

3:00 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jack Loftus
394 views, 10 comments

Latest by bosskev: I almost like it, but they didn't follow through on their own concept. Take the same device but make the spatula part into a variable angle protractor-like gauge that sets the width of the cut, calibrated not in degrees but in more »

Apple

Steve Jobs Says He Doesn't Have Cancer (And Why It's Not Your Business Anyway)

In declarations to NYT's Joe Nocera—one of the reporters who speculated on the health of Apple's CEO after WWDC—got a call from Steve Jobs himself. It wasn't pretty from the very beginning:

“This is Steve Jobs. You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.”

What followed was Jobs setting the record straight and spilling the beans about his health.

More »

1:35 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jesus Diaz
7,699 views, 78 comments

Rumor

Smudgy Pictures of Nokia's Tube Show New, Bland Interface

A bunch of new photos and specs for Nokia's Tube, a.k.a. The 5800 XpressMusic, have been leaked to the Internet. The alleged iPhone killer will apparently come with a 16:9 16 million color TFT LCD display with 640 X 360 pixel resolution, haptic feedback, a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, Dual LED flash, a built-in GPS and 140MB RAM. Also, lots of grease and fingerprints, it seems. More »

1:30 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Elaine Chow
1,455 views, 7 comments

MSI Wind

MSI Wind With 6-Cell Battery Now Available

MSI is jumping the gun with its 6-cell version of the Wind laptop. Originally slated for a September release, the MSI Wind is currently available at Mwave.com. Those battery shortages that threatened to keep the model off shelves until September never materialized. The $570 asking price is $70 more than what MSI had originally promised, but my Gizmodo brethren tell me that even with the hike, the pricing is pretty much in line with others in this space (although it is a bit more than what you can find the comparable Eee PC 1000H going for today). [Lilliputing]

1:00 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jack Loftus
626 views, 6 comments

Latest by Kobe_No_Means_No: I got to agree that the Acer Aspire One went from not being competitive to being 1st place among the tiny Taiwan laptops. Asus and MSI really screwed up with the pricing of their newer models. The competition is now more »

Tenori-On

Tenori-On Inspired PacklSound1 iPhone App Coming Soon, But Not Soon Enough

The Tenori-On is the zany Yamaha touch-based musical sequencer that caught our eye earlier this year, but this cool PacklSound1 iPhone app could very well be the portable version that puts us over the edge. It's a simpler version of the original $1,200 Tenori-On box, but that didn't stop the designer from laying down a quick, catchy beat. Seeing it in action, makes me want it right now: More »

12:07 PM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jack Loftus
2,867 views, 17 comments

Latest by itchytooth: @kaneshadow: True. That's why the thrill of illegally downloading fancy music software wears off pretty quickly too, because then you're sitting there, face to face with the fact that you've got no skills and no excuses. The other side of more »

Hot Stuff

MIT Thermoelectric Device Could Revolutionize Home Heating

With gas prices approaching "damn, I'm going to have to start walking more" levels here in the States, everyone's doing their part to increase efficiency and reduce energy consumption, and that includes the genius farm MIT. The institute already produces 80% of its own energy, courtesy of its on campus "cogeneration plant," but a few students have found a way to make the system even more self-sufficient using a new thermoelectric prototype. The great thing is the device has the potential for applications beyond the walls of MIT, and already the students are examining ways to apply it to the home heating industry in general. More »

11:00 AM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jack Loftus
3,753 views, 14 comments

Latest by SonOfMagicFact: @danger the pirate: ONOES! Not dihydrogen monoxide! People have been hurt by that evil, evil compound! That being said, that co-generation plant is right across the street from the best Chinese restaurant in the Boston area! [www.yelp.com] Disregard the poor reviews, more »

death ray

Update: Oops, the MEDUSA Mind Control Ray Gun Will Actually Kill You

The MEDUSA crowd control ray gun we reported on earlier this month sounded like some pretty amazing—and downright scary—technology. Using the microwave auditory effect, the beam, in theory, would have put sounds and voice-like noises in your head, thereby driving you away from the area. Crowd control via voices in your head. Sounds cool. However, it turns out that the beam would actually kill you before any of that happy stuff started taking place, most likely by frying or cooking your brain inside your skull. Can you imagine if this thing made it out into the field? Awkward! More »

10:00 AM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jack Loftus
5,016 views, 33 comments

Latest by alpacalypse: @Hiphopopotamus: I hate to sound like a dick, since you'll certainly respond that you were "just joking," but honestly, this is a pretty serious situation. The fact that people come this close to introducing deadly weapons as crowd control devices more »

Tr2n

Tron 2 Trailer Video Makes Pants Wet Worldwide

It's a tiny bootleg video, but I don't care. You can see that the 3D looks amazing, the new lightcycles are stunning (and move like real bikes), the world and the whole mood is Batman-like dark. And Jeff Bridges... well, he is Jeff Bridges. What can I say, he looks like a badass version of the Dude. "It's just a game!" he shouts. No, it's not. It's Tr2n. At last. Note: excuse the excitement, but I saw the original in the movie theater, and 200 times after that. With War Games, it's what got me into technology when I was a kid, and ultimately here in Giz. The only thing that has me worried is that the characters are in the computer world are fully 3D. The good news: George Lucas is not involved in this one, but rumor is that Pixar may be. [Filmstalker]

8:24 AM on Sat Jul 26 2008
By Jesus Diaz
47,853 views, 82 comments

Latest by Polybius: Cleaned up version of the trailer can be found here: TR2N cleaned up 001 more »

South Korea

Korean Scientists Closer To Fusion?

Korean scientists are one step further in reaching sustainable fusion reactors. In an experiment for the National Fusion Research Institute, scientists were able to achieve a form of supercharged plasma for 249 milliseconds, almost two and a half times longer than they had anticipated. It's a new form of plasma that can be used to generate electricity in a manner similar to conventional nuclear plants but with far less radioactive waste. We think that's cool. So do bears. [Korea Times]

10:00 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Matt Hickey
9,801 views, 77 comments

Latest by aaj111: I want to see supercharged plasma. Do it again! more »

iPhone Apps

Pandora For iPhone Updated With Stereo

The Pandora app for iPhone got an upgrade today and now streams music to your earbuds in stereo over Wi-Fi. A few other things are updated as well, including auto-complete and station resume if you pause. If you're a user, you can download the 1.1 update now. [Pandora Blog, via iPhoneBuzz]

9:00 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Matt Hickey
5,739 views, 25 comments

Sirius-XM Merger

Sirius-XM Merger is FINALLY Approved

The Sirius-XM Merger was finally approved by the FCC today following a 3-2 vote by the commission. The final and deciding vote only came after both parties agreed to pay a $19.7 million fine for violating FCC regulations. After 16 months of MTV-esque "drama" and gnashing of teeth, the $3.6 billion merger means that subscribers of both services will now get the best of both worlds. [SF Gate] More »

8:52 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Adrian Covert
6,669 views, 47 comments

Smartphones

AT&T BlackBerry Bold Pushed Back to September(ish)

First it was July, then mid-August, but now BlackBerryNews is pegging the AT&T BB Bold with a launch date around September 1, contingent on how quick they can train personnel on the phone. The Bold was also supposed to release first on Rogers today, but that has been pushed back to July 29. [BlackBerryNews]

8:21 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Adrian Covert
4,431 views, 24 comments

In Brief

More Star Wars Toys: Hasbro's New Lineup and Other Cool Stuff

FROM IO9.COM: Hasbro's Star Wars toy designers have been busy. They've got Clone Wars models and classics from the first trilogy. I love these super deformed Galactic Heroes — anime plus Star Wars equals yes. More »

8:14 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Annalee Newitz
4,363 views, 14 comments

Bad ideas

Tip: Shooting a Malfunctioning Device with a Shotgun Voids the Warranty

Man, companies are always trying to screw ya. Take warranties, for example. They'll void them for practically anything these days! Just ask Keith Walendowski of Milwaukee, WI (pictured). All he did was shoot his lawnmower with a sawed-off shotgun, and now the company who makes it says the warranty is voided. What a load of bullpap! More »

6:40 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Adam Frucci
7,258 views, 43 comments

Toothpick Art

Rube Goldberg Machine Is Made of 100,000 Toothpicks, Shaped Like San Francisco

Artist Scott Weaver spent 35 years working on this toothpick structure of San Francisco, which required 100,000 toothpicks and has a ball that rolls through the entire thing in Rube Goldberg fashion. But perhaps the best part of this is Weaver's sentiment towards the project, when he mentions that he loves to "know that I'm building something that people will see later on that took a long time to build for no reason." The nine-foot-tall creation is called "Rolling Through the Bay" and is currently on display at the Sonoma County Fair in Northern California. [Press Democrat via Laughing Squid]

6:20 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Adrian Covert
4,916 views, 32 comments

Latest by leaverus: How the heck does that thing get transported without falling apart? One little speed bump and it'd come crashing down. Pretty amazing though...screw cancer research - what's the point of saving lives if there's no beauty & art in the more »

Concept

Flowlight: Like a Blackboard With Lasers

Precisely how the Flowlight would work is a little unclear, but the design page notes that a base station would focus a laser beam 100 times a second into a point in the space, creating small plasma points that glow in mid air. Users could then use the pen to draw and write, making doodles look like some sort of fantastic light show. It's kind of like a cross between and blackboard and a laser pointer—which would be extremely cool if the product actually existed. More »

6:00 PM on Fri Jul 25 2008
By Sean Fallon
8,431 views, 28 comments

Latest by SirNirian: Wow am I the only one that is reminded of the sprint ads? PS: Sorry if someone already mentioned the sprint ads. more »